Page 54 of Zenith
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Later that afternoon, the police came and cleared out the media and carted off the lingering paparazzi hiding in the bushes.
As I watched them leave, I wondered if this was how Bertha felt. Locked inside her own home and unable to leave, no matter how much she wanted to. I wasn’t sure our situations were comparable considering her condition.
I hadn’t brought up my visit with Grace to Edward, and I wasn’t sure how I could express to him the need to have his ex-wife moved someplace that could give her the care she needed. Perhaps there was a way to help her regain some of her sanity. It was a fine dream, I suppose.
“Jane,” Edward murmured, coming to stand beside me. “Why are you staring out the window?”
I glanced over my shoulder at him and sighed as his hands came to rest on my waist. Outside, the sky had faded into night, the day long gone, but my memories of it still weighing heavy on my mind.
“I’m only thinking,” I replied.
“From the look upon your face, it does not look good,” he said, tugging me so I leaned back against his chest. “Have you decided where you would like to travel first?”
I shook my head. “I’ve scarcely thought about it.”
“I can see,” he murmured. “Luckily, I have thought long and hard in your stead. Tuscany seems a fitting place for you, knowing how you delight in wandering the gardens here. Italy is all about food, sunshine, family, and the finer things in life. The simple ways of living richly. I’m sure you will love it. Long, lazy days spent under the Italian sun, sipping limoncello, eating your full of pasta, tomatoes, and cheeses. Then tasting a hundred different wines made from grapes grown on the hills all around. It is a sleepy way of life and quite passionate. I can already see you there, Jane. You would thrive.”
“It sounds wonderful,” I murmured, turning to face him.
“Then we shall go the moment the company is sold, and the papers are signed. We can spend a month or even two. Just you and I.” He sighed, leaning his forehead against mine, his eyes darkening with a brewing storm. “All my life, I’ve wished to be free of the burdens that have weighed me down and now… It is almost here, and I can scarcely imagine what the world has to offer, though I have dreamed of it nightly.”
“You amaze me, Mr. Rochester,” I said.
“How so?”
I smiled, thinking back to the man I first met on the road to Thornfield. Handsome, dangerous, brooding, and hurtful. Only one of those words seemed to apply to him now. What a transformation he’d been through! Stone into flesh…
I placed my hand upon his chest and said, “There was a heart in here all along.”
“And Jane Eyre always had a wicked tongue, no matter her name.” He walked me backward to the bed, his smile so wide I hoped it would never leave his face. “Come to bed. It’s becoming late, and the window holds no warmth…unlike my arms.”
Untangling myself from his grasp, I slid under the covers, drawing him toward me as I placed my head on the pillow.
He wrapped his arms around my slight frame as his lips teased my skin, and I buried closer to his body, wanting to lay as flush with him as I could manage. The heat of his skin was comforting as was the rise and fall of his chest.
“Can we just lay together?” I asked. “I just…”
“Of course,” was his reply. “It is comforting just being like this, don’t you agree? There is more than one kind of physical intimacy to be explored.” His lips brushed against my neck, and I shivered.
“Thank you,” I whispered as he drew the blanket up further.
“Do you truly believe we can overcome this, Jane?”
“Yes, I do,” I replied sleepily. “We have to if we ever want to live a truly happy life. I believe we can despite it all.”
He muttered something incomprehensible as we both drifted off, the warm cocoon of his arms lulling me to sleep.
I wasn’t sure how long I’d been floating in darkness when my eyes cracked open, but it was still dark, and Edward had rolled onto his back, his arm leaving my waist. I hovered just outside of wakefulness, my mind foggy with a dream that still clung to the edges of my mind. That was why I wasn’t sure if I’d heard the manic laughter in the hall outside at first. Not until it came again, this time louder as a light patter of footsteps rushed by the door.
Raising my head, I listened as the sound echoed down the hall and disappeared.Bertha.
Cursing under my breath, I glanced at Edward, who was still sound asleep. He had been through so much in the past week, the last thing I wanted to do was wake him—he desperately needed the gift of unbroken sleep. If Bertha was loose, then I would raise Grace from her bed and force her to search for the woman. I no longer had any fear of the dark corners of Thornfield and would deal with Bertha’s wanderings harshly when I lay my hands upon her.
Slipping out of bed, I put on my boots and tiptoed to the door, shivering in my shorts and singlet. Summer was going to be over quickly this year if the nighttime temperature was anything to go by.
Opening the door to the suite, I peered out into the hallway and immediately noticed an orange glow and the woody scent of smoke. My heart began to beat wildly as I turned and ran toward the bed.
